From: "John Smith" on Sun,May 8 2005 1:39 pm

Exactly my point....

We break into two groups of thought here...

...which seems to be YOUR whole point... :-)

Halt at this point, and lay all plans on that halting (and, if ALL the

others don't agree--be bypassed anyway)...

Nihilism. Tsk, tsk...

Or, stay with the pack, realizing if that day ever comes (technology
ceases
to innovate/obsolete)--we will regret it...

What "pack?" What "regrets?" What "ceasing?!?"

Progress, obsolete equip., is the most desirable thing I can imagine!
It is
a given, not all will agree... Indeed, at 52 years of age, my place
in the
"scope of the world" is becomming smaller--it only gets worse from now
on--I
am not ready to quit and attempt to force others to that "quitting"
with
me...

Tsk. Then your card doesn't seem to be plugged in to
the right slot. I have 20 years on you and began in
HF radio communications 52 years ago. What you have to
understand is that EVERYTHING can be made "obsolete"
in the marketplace...HF is NOT used nearly as much for
communications now as back a half century ago. So, you
are "suddenly realizing" your "place in the world" is
getting smaller? Pass me your TS card and I'll punch it.

When the "Dick Tracy Wrist Radio" is finally designed and
implemented--perhaps there will be a "death of homebrewers" (I myself
am NOT
much of a 'watchbuilder')--but until then we can have fun!

I'm wearing one right now. Made by La Crosse. Cost all
of $30 with shipping. "Tunes in" every night to WWVB
and sets itself to the correct time from a kilomile away,
even adjusts for Daylight Savings time. shrug

I'm not sure what everyone is talking about in this thread
but, like Roy and a few others, I've seen some innovative
(and sometimes inventive) work in the many and various
disciplines of "radio" and electronics in the past half
century.

You want "modularity" a la a PC? WHY?!? Because it is
"familiar?" Because it is "cheap?" Here's a clue: This
newsgroup is NOT a "production design and marketing
newsgroup." It isn't a political science discussion
place to whine and moan over some middle-aged anguish
angst attack.

MODULARITY has been going ON in electronics ALL OVER
since the designers stopped trying to use transistors as
if they were vacuum tubes. I have a nicely working Icom
R-70. It is VERY modular, built NOTHING like what a PC
is, NOR SHOULD IT BE. A cast frame and cover that has
a rectangular box form...for convenience on a desk ...but
everything inside is MODULAR, grouped to take different
boards for different models, different functions. Those
MODULES are mostly soldered together, those MODULES
"sitting" in unlikely positions within that box. I have
another receiver, a National NC-57, all tubes, all boat-
anchor, purchased in 1948 with my own money (about $95)
and it works, to be polite, like BADLY in comparison.

Icom has done the MODULAR thing, so has Yaesu, and
Kenwood, and Collins Radio, and even Heathkit. All did
it DIFFERENTLY than any IBM-clone PC. I think ALL the
"radio" makers have done things differently AND done
the MODULARLY...even those that had only ONE module.

On the other hand, I'm typing away at a "slow" PC which
has a processor chugging away at 2.4 GIGAHertz with
memory access rates up in the 100 MEGAHertz range. Now,
from what I've learned and experienced, such frequencies
ARE RADIO. With newer PCs the memory access rates go
above 200 MHz...and the generated RFI is LESS than my
first "powerful" PC with a 20 MHz clock. Why? Better
IC transistor junctions taking LESS operating power.
MUCH LESS. Less power in those state transitions, ergo
less radiated stray RF. Three thousand cheers for that!
I'm looking at an LCD flat screen monitor which is far
better to watch than the old CRT "monitor" and has much
less RFI than that CRT.

I passed 52 some time ago, had maybe 15 minutes of
middle-age angst/worry/regret/etc., shrugged my
shoulders and carried on. There's way TOO MUCH delight
and wonder of all the new things coming out, the
wonderful new (some marvelous improvements on the old)
components, fantastic circuit and system simulation for
"breadboard" trials, all sorts of SOC (systems on a
chip) by mail-order from dozens of vendors. It's a
marvelous fairyland chock full of goodies to use in
all kinds of hobby construction in new and different
ways. Why sit around and contemplate radio navels
and make noises of badness or arouse controversy to
get your anonymous name "known" in a newsgroup?

A very long time ago I learned a truism: Electrons,
fields, and waves don't give a @#$%!!! what humans
think/feel/emote-about. They work by THEIR laws,
NOT by some emotional advertising copy or glossy
looking shelf items nor by the "reviews" in hobby
publications nor by all the cussing at them by
builders who don't know what they should be doing.

Having said that, I'm going to continue putting
together an EPROM burner so that I can complete a
MODULAR SW BC receiver that is single-conversion
with a 21.4 MHz crystal-filtered IF and has a PLL
for the LO. "Auto-bandswitching" just for those
SW BC bands yet the LO tuning range is continuous.
It's in a little BOX made of double-sided PCB
stock, 4" x 8" x 8" in size. Not one microprocessor
in it...done that way on purpose. Could have been
done a decade ago with nearly the same parts.

There's PROGRESS all over the place. If one keeps
one's eyes open. shrug